The First 48

I think I can speak for Brandon too when I say these last days have been among the hardest of our lives.  There is a feeling of complete helplessness when you see your babies in their incubators in the NICU, but you can't really do anything for them.  So we go, we hold their little hands and feet and let them hear our voices and hope that helps to soothe them.  It just seems like they have already been through more in the first 48 hours of their young lives than most of us will experience in ours. 

There is a silver lining, and that is Brennen, Graham and Liam are still doing well for their age.  It doesn't make it any easier, but we have been told the problems they are experiencing are not uncommon.  

Remarkably, Brennen, our little guy who I was the most worried about during pregnancy, is doing the best!  He always looks so relaxed when we go see him, and with the light they use on him for jaundice and his little eye goggles, he looks like he's just chillin' out at the beach.  He was also the first, and still the only one, to get fed some of my milk, which he is responding well to. I think he is just happy to have room to move and he doesn't have to be on the bottom holding up his brothers any more.

Graham had a scare with a collapsed lung on Sunday afternoon, but was able to bounce back from that fairly quickly.  They are now keeping a close eye on his enlarged heart, but so far the vital signs tell us that it is SLOWLY improving.  Most of the time he is snuggled up asleep and looks pretty content to be there.

Liam is still making us worry a lot.  He too had a collapsed lung and they gave him the same treatment as Graham, but he did not respond as well.  The x-rays show a really small improvement each time, but he still struggles and it's hard to watch his little chest work so hard to breathe.  We found out today that his vitals are indicating improvements and they think his lung will heal itself with some more time, without doing any more invasive procedures. 

I should also mention that they have blond fuzzy hair and blond eye brows...so cute! 

This is all a summary of what the doctors have told us, it's kind of overwhelming to hear all the medical terminology and not know what it means.  But we have been asking a lot of questions and translating it back to our terms to we can understand better.  

Liam likes to kick his leg out

Graham stays pretty snuggled.  That's his hand up by his face

Graham's BIG feet (compared to his bros)

Brennen just likes to relax

Liam's Feet (I think)

A lot of people have also been asking about Addie and how she is handling everything.  Well let me tell you, she is getting spoiled!  She has spent the last couple of days with all of her grandparents, so what's not to love about that?  She has gotten to see the boys a few times...the last was at her request!  She was very brave and touched their hands and tickled their little feet. The smile on her face when they responded to her touch was priceless and something I'll never forget.  She has also enjoyed some quiet time snuggled up in the hospital bed with me (although I might have enjoyed it more...who knows).  I'm sure we'll have our ups and downs, but that is to be expected.  

I will be at the hospital until Thursday, then I will go back home and they will stay.  Then we will just have to be patient until they are ready to join us at home.